If I have truly made your life easier...
...then feel free to send some cash my way via the "Send Money" feature at PayPal.
My email address is: Mike<dot>Sacha<dot>Tomlinson<at>gmail<dot>com
(replacing the <xxx> parts with the obvious filler or couse!)

Most of a computers time is spent in an Idle state, which means it is simply sitting in the message loop doing nothing. On windows systems, you can see this in the Task Manager. The "System Idle Process" shows us that 99% of the time, the CPU is not actually executing any processes.

Our brain is the same way; 99% of the time, it is simply processing the unconscious messages our body sends automatically to keep itself going. Programming can become the same way...the same patterns (good or bad) being spit out over and over. One of my goals here at EE is not to simply answer questions, but to give my brain something new to do...thus reducing the amount of Idle state in my mind. To this end, I enjoy finding questions that I really don't know how to answer (or at least are variations of something I've done before), but have an interest in solving. Given the depth of topics, experiences and needs of EE's members, there never seems to be a shortage of things to keep my Idle Mind busy. =)

Don't forget that Rank is not synonomous with "the best". It is simply a placement based on the number of points you have with respect to other experts. Points DO NOT tell you what areas of a language or what technologies an expert is good at (or horrible at). One can amass a significant number of points answering only very basic questions!

A large number of points simply means that an expert has answered alot of questions. In general though, exposure to a large volume of questions gives an expert experience...and that is sometimes the invaluable part of a contribution to a question. Not just giving an answer (in the form of a code snippet), but saying "A" is better than "B" because of XXX. Knowing all the pros and cons of different approaches to a problem can be the difference between implementing a solution that simply works, and a solution that is elegant, easily adaptable to new requirements, and can solve a wider variety of inputs.

One of the disadvantages to having expert rankings in systems such as EEs, is that it can sometimes hamper the attractive collaborative nature of the open public forum. Often times, once a high ranking expert has made a comment in a thread, other experts become reluctant to participate because they believe their comments won't have credibility and that most likely, all points will simply go to the already high ranking expert. This deprives questions from having more than one point of view and only gives the question asker a limited set of ways to solve a problem.

So please, if you see me (or any other expert) post a solution to a problem that has obvious limitations, don't be afraid to speak up and offer alternatives or advice! High ranking experts are not infallible...

I'm a mostly self-taught "ex" programmer who just loves to code. I answer questions here at experts-exchange to satisfy may daily "urge to program". To me, an elegantly written piece of code is not unlike a beautiful painting...something to behold. When done right, it is more than the sum of its parts...having achieved a synergy that gives it that something "extra" that often can't be described in words. Writing programs is my creative outlet...the IDE, my "blank canvas". ;)

Born, raised and released in San Diego, California, I currently reside wherever the Air Force decides to station my wife. I'm a Stay@Home Dad with three kids, two cars, and plenty of free "two cents".

For those that are REALLY bored, read on to take a trip down memory lane...

I got my start in 1983 learning BASIC on my very first computer, the TI-99/4A. I wrote many programs on it and saved every one of them on my trusty cassette tape drive! You can check out this "impressive" language here: http://www.99er.net/basicref.html

I then moved on to learning GWBASIC, BASICA, QBASIC and DOS Batch Files on our families "True Blue" 8 MHz 80286 IBM AT.

In grade school I remember commanding the Turtle to draw on the screen with Logo on an Apple II machine.

In middle and high school, I learned PASCAL, FORTRAN, COBOL, and Integer BASIC on Apple IIe and Apple IIc's.

Since then, I have taught myself Visual Basic 6.0, MS Access, Java, C/C++ Console Apps and Visual Basic.NET. I'm now exploring C# and finding that I really like VB.Net... ;)

I also maintained Medical Equipment for seven years in the Air Force, giving me an electronics background.

An "Expert" in any of these languages I am certainly not (there are just too many areas to specialize in!)...but I bring to the table a unique perspective on software design and troubleshooting derived from a wide range of computer/electronics experiences.

I am looking forward to solving problems together, and hopefully, learning something along the way.